Action Bronson’s first major-label release comes after two well-received albums, two EPs and three mixtapes that cumulatively have established him as a singular personality, separating him from the Ghostface Killah comparisons that plagued his early career. He spends the first part of Mr. Wonderful in his wheelhouse, swiftly stacking lyrics packed with dense internal rhyme schemes. He’s at his best on Terry, layering fantastical free-asso-ciative rhymes over serene jazzy production by the Alchemist.
On Actin’ Crazy, Bronson is his trademark, self-mythologizing droll self, with production a cut above his usual fare and accentuating strengths like his sense of humour, expansive vocab and cultural references and deft mix of high and lowbrow imagery. Unfortunately, the album veers into schlock too frequently. City Boy Blues, in which Bronson takes on the role of a bluesman, lands with a thud. Live track The Passage sounds like a Jim Morrison tribute gone awry. There’s no denying Bronson is a supreme talent, but Mr. Wonderful feels more like a low-stakes failed experiment than a grand proclamation.
Top track: Actin’ Crazy
Action Bronson plays Yonge-Dundas Square as part of NXNE on June 21.